


Recall

by Otterly



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-12-30 06:16:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12102558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otterly/pseuds/Otterly
Summary: Dawn Bellwether is forced to take matters into her own hands when blackmail shows up at the doorstep of her running mate, Leodore Lionheart.Can she find the person extorting them for money and ask really, really nicely if they could cut it out?Maybe.





	Recall

 

Dawn Bellwether, aged 28, stared wide-eyed at the spectacle placed in the very forefront of her vision. Neon reds and electric blues blurred beautifully together on the poster, forming outlines and shapes that could only be recognized as the lithe form of Leodore Lionheart and, nestled proudly at his side, herself.

“I’m going to assume that you like it if you go another minute without talking,” Leo purred teasingly from behind her. “But I don’t think I want to assume today so please! Tell me what you think, Dawn. Did they get your face wrong? I personally don’t think it’s as pretty as what you look like in the flesh.”

 

* * *

 

_“I remember that.”_

_“Me too.”_

_“I was cute.”_

_“Yeah, you were.”_

 

* * *

 

“I love it!” she gushed. “Oh my gosh I can’t believe you actually put me in there! Leo, my parents — they’re gonna be so pleased. _No_. The whole herd is going to be just so ecstatic once they all see this!”

A massive paw squeezed her shoulder affectionately. “I know, right? Isn’t it great?”

“It really is, isn’t it?” she breathed. “You know, if it weren’t for that fact that I won that lotto prize for five thousand dollars two years ago, this could be the happiest day of my life.”

The doors slammed open as a panicked rhino rushed in. “Guys!”

Leo smiled down at the sheep (he knew that it couldn’t be anything good but welcomed its challenge anyway, because that’s what he did when things got tough and that’s why everyone loved him) and he gave her shoulder another squeeze. “You’re gonna have to save that day for when we get elected. Come on.”

“What’s wrong, Andy?” the lion addressed the frantic giant as he walked to the big, round table in the centre of the room — they had yet to name it but they knew it should be something cool so they held off until someone miraculously came upon it — and leaned his weight on it. “You look like someone’s about to ruin the electoral race for me.”

“That’s really funny of you to say that, because that kind of sounded like you knew what I was about to say, and what I was about to say and am saying now is that someone’s going to ruin the electoral race for you.”

“As usual, I speak too soon. What is it this time?”

Nodding, Andy pulled out a stack of documents from a briefcase and fanned them out across the table. “Here’s what we know: someone found the Gamma Gamma Meow pictures. Now, I know that we all thought that they’d been disposed of in that trash fire we had at the beginning of the race, but it seems that someone’s found them and is trying to extort money out of us.”

“Aw, geez…” Lionheart groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Okay. What are they asking for? Five thousand? Ten? Fifty grand?”

“All we have is papers, typed out, asking for forty million dollars.”

“Okay, we can’t do _that_ ,” he said quickly. His face settled into a moment of true contemplation before he turned his head and yelled. “Dawn! Dawn?”

But the sheep wasn’t there.

She was rushing down the halls with a fancy hat in hand and a purse filled with mints. It was perfect. It was all too perfect.

Tomorrow, Leo had an appearance scheduled in the Meadowlands. At her own suggestion, he was going to host a Grazing in the most accessible part of the district, which was an action that was guaranteed to win the hearts of every single prey mammal in the area. If there were ever a perfect time to strike, it’d be now. Whoever knew about the Grazing was a suspect and, just her luck, they made sure to tell only a few people.

Surprise tended to win the hearts of the citizens. When all of those mammals walked into that giant hall tomorrow and saw that a _lion_  was the one providing the food? They’d flip their tables! Unless they not only saw a lion, but saw _those_  pictures of him in the news and then decided that he was desperately grovelling for votes.

Dawn shook her head. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She sent a text to Leo, notifying him of her whereabouts, and set forward. She was determined. She was going to fix this, and then she’d call her parents and listen to them be proud, and then she’d become assistant mayor. Assistant Mayor Bellwether. Didn’t that sound just _wonderful_?

Assistant Mayor Bellwether was on the case.

 

 

Crisp, manufactured air kissed the tip of her nose as she wandered into the biggest Preyda outlet that Zootopia had to offer. Four stories of luxury spread out before the ewe like an ocean. Her own mother had been a wool supplier at the designer level — runways and such — so the perfume and the pretty prey (at least they had a tiger working one of the cash registers) failed to make her feel out of place. Even if it did, and it didn’t, she had brought a fancy hat to make up for it.

Really, this place kind of reminded her of home. Waiting for her mom to be done with work so they could finally go home, at least.

“What a beautiful hat,” someone remarked — she couldn’t see and she didn’t want to turn around.

“Thank you. I don’t need help or anything, I’m just looking around,” Dawn said, moving forward and leaving the unknown worker behind.

It was a Christmas party, wasn’t it? That’s when they first met. She seemed fine, and Leo seemed happy to be dating her. All was alright. When Leo came back the next month and announced that he was single, Dawn thought “Okay. I guess that’s the end of that.”

The next three times they met, one of them was drunk (the one that wasn’t a sheep) and one of them was being forced to kick the other out (the one that _was_ a sheep.

Charity benefits, public events, private galas. It was never hard to find that lioness. So where was she now?

“Looking for something, lambchop?” purred a dangerous alto from behind.

Dawn turned, fake-smiling as the suited lioness that greeted her sight. “It’s nice to see you again, Jolene.”

“No it’s not.”

“I’m here to talk to you, obviously.”

“Obviously. Why would you be here otherwise?” said Jolene. “What does Li-Li want this time? I’m betting he wants a date for that _ridiculous_  event tomorrow.”

“Still don’t know why he told you he was hosting,” Dawn grumbled.

“Because the dumb kitten wants me back, of course! It won’t work, though. I’m over that oversized ball of unkempt mane.”

“His mane is really nice actually.”

“To a non-lion.”

“Look, is there anywhere private we can go?”

The lioness considered the question, though the look on her face made it seem like she was being asked to swallow a cup of razorblades. “This should be good. Follow me.”

Both girls strutted through the store, going past pretty mirrors reflecting prettier clothes being bought by pretty––

“We’re here.”

“Oh,” Dawn remarked. The sight of the employee lounge was one to behold; it was really quite plain. Scuffed white, wooden chairs and tables filled around three hundred square feet, topped off with a shoddy vending machine in the corner. “It…wasn’t what I was expecting”

“Yeah, well. The store’s a bit like Leo. All nice, pretty, and luxurious on all fronts until you get to the back and realize that there’s nothing there but a gaggle of unimpressive pieces of mediocrity. And then when you’re admiring the fact that something can be so lukewarm he pushes you down and stabs you in the back with an antelope horn. How is he these days, Dawn?”

They chose a table towards the front of the room — less running space, Dawn figured. For herself or for Jolene. Chances were that this wouldn’t end happily.

“Fine. Not so good today. I was hoping that you’d help me out with making him feel better,” she offered cheerfully. “There’s something that’s standing in the way of the Grazing tomorrow and the both of us would really appreciate it if that something could turn into nothing.”

“How vague,” Jolene replied. “You say that like I might now something about that something.”

“Do you?” Dawn asked, two tones away from accusing. “When you were with Leo, I know it wasn’t a very long time—“

“It was six months! And we were family friends before that.”

“Regardless,” she continued. “Did he ever tell you about when he was in college?”

“College? Well — _I see._  The Gamma Gamma Meow photos. He told me about those. Oh, wait! Of course!” Jolene’s eyes widened greatly before she clutched herself and curled inward, laughing in long, manic wheezes. “I can’t believe it. You _idiots_  didn’t get rid of those?”

“We thought we did, Jolene. But it seems like someone has a hold of them.”

“And you think that I’m the mammal who’s got them?” the lioness said, placing a paw on her heart. “That sounds reasonable, for sure.”

“So you’re admitting to it.”

“Am I?”

“God, can you just—“

“Can I tell you something about Leodore Lionheart?”

Dawn sighed. “Sure. As long as you quit this…messed up _revenge scheme_  when you’re done.”

“Great,” Jolene purred. She closed her eyes, seeming like she was recalling an old memory, and opened them again. The predatory glint in her pupils that had put Dawn on edge for most of the conversation was gone. Now there was nothing but sobriety. “Look. That lion is going to mess you up.”

“Come on.”

“I’m serious. Do you see me smiling here? Leo is complicated. He’s handsome and he’s charismatic and his paws feel _so nice_  on your shoulders but he’s a beartrap waiting to go off. I am warning you. He’ll win the race and make you assistant mayor, yes, and then what? He’ll get _bored_. He’ll throw you away like a piece of trash and then the next thing you know, you’ll be sitting in a disgusting basement waiting for him to call you so he can give you the next chore on his list of things he’s too lazy to do.”

The sheep raised an eyebrow. “Are you done? Because I’d like to get a good night’s sleep before the event tomorrow.”

“Oh, I never said I had the pictures.”

She blinked, and realized that she was telling the truth. “You really are over him, aren’t you?”

“Well, not completely. I still hate him.”

“Ugh, crap — I wasted like an hour getting here! I need to find the person doing this before the event tomorrow. Oh, geez, I — I will be seeing you, Jolene,” she narrowed her eyes. “Have a good life. Thanks for wasting my time.”

“Kisses,” the lioness replied. “Think about what I said. Because it’s true.”

Dawn repressed the urge to make a rude gesture as she left, and scurried out of the backroom.

 

* * *

_"She really said that?"_

_"Does that sound at all out of character for her?"_

_"No, I guess not."_

* * *

 

Not for the first time in her career, Dawn felt a touch humiliated. The absolute worst part of the whole endeavour was that she didn’t even get a good conversation out of it. Just…more of the same.

She had been warned about Leo before. This wasn’t the first time. Close ex-friends and ex-girlfriends had said similar things. She never listened, of course, this was _Leo_  that they were talking about, but hearing those words always made her feel just a little worse than she had coming in.

A text buzzed in her purse (which could only have been from the lion in question) caused her heartbeat to spike. Why did she never listen to the warnings? Because everyone was jealous? That was a possibility, but then again, she had heard bad things about her partner from mammals much richer and powerful than he was.

It took her a few seconds to get her phone out, but after some comical fumbling, she did. A satisfying click came from her chunky pink fliphone as she opened it — hopefully they never went out of style, that click was just _perfect_  and always made her smile — and read Leo’s message.

Positive words affirmed her smart decision to go after everyone who knew about the Grazing.

“What would I do without you?” texted Lionheart.

“Probably lose,” she texted back with a dopey smile.

If she was smart, she would have recognized that his appreciation felt like a drug, and that made for a bad combination with her distinctly un-sheep-like desire to go above and beyond in the quest for praise. And she  _was_ smart, which meant that she recognized this. But she ignored what it meant, and though a part of her knew that was stupid, she didn’t care.

Her self esteem restored, she set off towards the next mammal on her list.

If it wasn’t Lionheart’s ex, maybe it was hers. Her ex friend, though. Not her ex-significant other. All of her exes weren’t the jealous type. Or, they wouldn’t be. If she had any.

Dawn blushed, despite herself. She was a career mammal. It was perfectly normal.

 

 

“Bellwether? _Dawn_  Bellwether? Oh my _god!_ It’s been — well actually I saw you last week at the Skunks against Junk charity benefit but it’s still exciting that you’re here!”

Dawn smiled back, taking in the gigantic secretary desk that the peppy beaver in front of her was staffing. “Hi, Ashley. I’m really sorry but I can’t chat too much — actually I’m here to see your boss, maybe? Is he free?”

“Oh yeah! For sure! Here let me…hello? Sir, Miss Bellwether’s here to see you. No, she didn’t see you. No, the claw—Mister Lionheart isn’t here with her. Yes, she’s completely alone. I’d describe the look on her face as… _vulnerable_ ,” Ashley nodded a thousand nods before setting the phone down to address her guest. “You an come in! Do you need help with the ridiculously sized doors?”

The sheep examined said doors. Giant, hulking pieces of wood built specifically with giraffes in mind. The thing was, though, that they represented so much more.

Those doors represented a challenge. They were barriers to success — to making it in the big leagues and becoming Zootopia’s very own eighty-seventh sheep Assistant Mayor — and she knew exactly what to do with them.

“No problem,” Dawn said. “I’ve got it.”

The tacky, overpriced pieces of garbage wood opened up for her like a starving fox’s legs in the face of a hundred bucks.

She strutted through them, letting them close behind her as she continued her forward momentum into the spacious office, not bothering to take in its detailed, paw-carved furniture, or its ominous view of the city or the piranha tank in the corner.

“Priestly!” she growled, striding right up to the giant desk at the end of the office. “I know what you’re up to.”

“Oh, you do?” chimed a ringing baritone hidden behind the shadows on the other side of the desk. “I’d love for you to tell me about it. After a drink or two, of course.”

Dawn watched the giraffe tilt out of the darkness, silk tie catching a shine before his face came into clear view. George Priestly: known smooth talker and an old friend from college. Also the only real threat that was posed to her and Leo in terms of running rivals.

“I’m good,” she countered feistily. “Today’s too important to start getting drunk in the middle of the afternoon. Want a mint?”

“Of course.”

She slide one across the desk. Their conversation kept on.

Priestly beat her to the first word. “I would have thought that tomorrow would be a little higher on the priority list, considering that Leodore has—“

“The Grazing? Yeah. I know,” she interrupted with a tone that said ‘I have something more to say’ when in fact, she had a loss for words directly after. Silence filled the room as Priestly waited for her to talk. Dawn blinked and blinked, refusing to believe that she had forgotten what she was going to say.

The moment paced on and on and on until her ears began to turn red. “You know what? I’ll have that drink.”

“Good choice,” said Priestly. “Penicillin okay?”

“Of course, but make it quick. I have—“

“Business, yes, obviously. Everyone in our field has business. You should be relishing the chance to forget about business for a few moments, if you ask me.”

“Fine,” Dawn agreed, huffing.

In a flash the giraffe was up and at it, gliding gracefully to the giant bar nestled into the left side of the office. His hooves drifted, effortless as they reached across one end of the bench of the other, gathering ingredients and reorganizing misplaced glasses and garnishes. “So, what’s going on with you? Other than the race.”

“Tried to get into knitting with my own wool.”

“How’s that working out for you?”

“Felt too weird. I don’t like shearing myself. And I’m bad at knitting — really bad. What about you?”

“Haven’t had the time for anything but work!” he chuckled. “I’m sure that Leodore’s the same.”

“Basically,” she purred, attempting to ignore the fact that she had got distracted. Tomorrow was gaining on her and it would come soon if she didn’t do anything. What was she _doing_  right now?

Seconds later, the drinks were done. Priestly hummed as he sautnered back to his desk, placing a smaller glass on Dawn’s side and a bigger glass on his own. “One ewe-sized glass for you and a super-sized glass for me. How are you? I forgot to ask that earlier.”

“I’m fine! More than that. Look, I came here to— aw, I mean, how are you?”

“About the same,” Priestly breathed. “Now, what were you saying?”

Dawn blinked. Her heart had begun to race somewhere along the way. “You were always such a good guy, Georgie. The loudest in the class but also the happiest. Smartest? Maybe. Our entire year would probably reject that statement in favor of themselves. But today I just keep thinking of that one time, just after midterms—“

“Please, Dawn. If you have a point…”

“I know. Emotions run wild when grades are involved. Plus, group projects tend to bring the worst out in people. You probably didn’t mean to transfer that kid’s naked polaroids to your own bag, and then threaten him into doing his work at the risk of photocopying them and spreading them around the school.”

“ _Didn’t_  I say that you should arrive at your point, Dawn?”

“I should have realized you’d be the type to fight dirty,” she hushed.

“It comes with the territory and the job, Bellwether. But unfortunately for you I have about zero idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t be like that, George. You—“

“You have no _idea_ if I’m actually who you’re looking for, do you? Another one of your hunches, I guess. Are you and your poor little kitty-cat in trouble?” Priestly said, scathingly. “It’s too bad that there’s nothing I did to help put you there.”

Dawn exhaled. Her hooves were twitching. Why? “L—Look—“

“I am looking, Dawn. What I’m seeing is disgusting. It’s very, very, unlucky for you that that knife-eared _meat-eater_  took what little subtlety you used to have and thrown it into the garbage. I have work to do. I will not sit here and be accused of things I haven’t done by a sheep I used to know back in school. Get out of my — no, wait, finish your drink, it’s really good. After that, leave.”

At as loss, the ewe downed the drink and hurried out the door, but not before another word from her adversary.

 

* * *

 

_"Probably something about sheep doing what they’re told."_

_"I can imagine…did he really have a piranha tank in the corner?"_

_"He did. It was obnoxious, but it did what he wanted it to do."_

_"And what was that?"_

_"You really don’t know?"_

 

* * *

 

“Fuck,” Dawn seethed for a moment before gasping and covering her mouth. What would her parents say if they were here?

She was 27. They wouldn’t care in the least. A sigh escaped from her pursed lips.

Her list was all but empty now. For all her confidence, it really only contained about two mammals. It wasn’t true that everyone who knew about tomorrow was a suspect. Everyone else who knew about Leo’s hosting was working for them and would die before sabotaging the race like this.

So basically she was screwed.

A part of her wanted to go home, which was ridiculous because there was still work to do. Her and Leo’s publicists were no doubt at work, but they definitely wouldn’t find the problem before it was too late so chances were that Leo was getting a crash course in avoiding questions and looking good. Not that he needed it. That was one of his many mastered tactics, after all.

The little ewe had once again stepped outside of her bounds. What was she thinking, thinking that she could fix this at all within the bounds of one day?

She sighed again, but was interrupted by her phone ringing.

“Hello?”

Thick, deep and heavy like syrup, her father’s voice leaked steadily into her ears. “Dawn. How are you?”

“Hi, Dad! I’m alright. How are you?”

“Same old, same old. I was just calling, Dawn, because we wanted to check in about our spots at the Grazing tomorrow.”

“Oh. You’re still in the same place,” she said. “Towards the front. Like, third row maybe? I forget the spots.”

“So the Grazing is still happening.”

“Yeah. No rain or anything, so it should be going down as scheduled.”

“Would you like to come over today, Dawn?”

Dawn sighed. “Sure. Dinner?”

“I was thinking that you come as soon as possible.”

“Of course, Dad.”

“See you soon, Dawn.”

“Okay. Coming right now.”

“Yes.”

“As soon as you hang up you’ll be on you’re way.”

“Yep.”

“Alright.”

“Okay, Dad. Bye.”

“Bye, Dawn.”

She shut the phone — god, she loved that click. Though it was more of a snap. Regardless, it was time to visit home. Try as she might, her father was still the leader of their herd and his word was basically law. Even now, when she was moved out of the gated community she grew up in and independent in every way, his command beckoned to her.

She wasn’t free to not follow, so she left as soon as she could.

 

 

There was something special about spongy carpeting on hooves that Dawn suspected preds could never feel. They paired together like fine cheese and finer wine. and the feeling of them together was always her favorite part of visiting her parents.

In front of her sat furniture not unlike the pieces that sat in Priestly’s office, the only difference being that these tables, these chairs and couches and the crystal chandelier hanging above her — they were all significantly more expensive and welcoming.

She had gone home. Just…not her normal one.

“There she is,” whispered a voice from the top of the stairs.

Dawn turned and watched her mother glide down gracefully towards her, a playful twinkle in her deep green eyes complimenting the shine that caught on her snow white wool. She looked like a forest in the winter. Almost sounded like one, too. Beautiful, but freezing.

“Hi Mom.”

“Hello, darling. Want some coffee?”

“I’m fine, Mom.”

She got up and met her mother halfway in a tight embrace.

“I wish you’d visit more,” Mrs. Bellwether said.

“I know, but—“

“Work and all. Yes. Your father should be down soon. Wait on the couch with me?”

Her wish was Dawn’s command. For a while they chatted about this and that, about whether or not Dawn was finally going to bring home some charming young ram that would finally give her mother some grandchildren, and was she doing alright by herself in that little three bedroom apartment because if she wanted, she could move back in no problem. Dawn politely said “no” to both questions.

Eventually, her father entered through the front door.

There was a grim look on his weathered face. His pupils, beautifully horizontal, looked dulled but somehow alert, playing into his unusually poised posture and his overall stoicism. He looked like a rock, but a very cute, fluffy rock.

“Hello.”

“Hi Dad,” she greeted. “Back from work?”

“Something like that,” he answered. “Will you be staying for dinner?”

“I don’t know. Something came up at work that I’ve been trying to fix _all_  day and it’s been pretty stressful. I still need to work it out, so, I don’t think I’ll be here for long if that’s alright.”

“Of course that’s alright. Work is work, after all,” her father smiled as he took a seat across from her. “You’re a smart girl. Third in your class. I have zero doubts that you have the wit to solve whatever’s wrong. That lion doesn’t know how valuable you are.”

“Dad!” she chastised lightly before breaking out into a smile. “I missed you.”

“We missed you too, Dawn,” she tried her best not to lean in as he reached across to pet her ears, which was kind of a fruitless endeavour. How could she not? Her ears were really itchy. “We’re glad you came to visit.”

A silence lingered — one that Dawn wasn’t comfortable with but stuck out for, since her parents seemed completely fine with stopping all talk whatsoever for like a whole minute.

“So,” the ewe eventually said, clearing her throat as she did so. “What’s been going on with you guys?”

Her parents exchanged looks before mutually shrugging.

“Same old, same old,” said her father.

“Really? I guess I can’t be too surprised,” Dawn giggled. “We’re not really the type of mammals to get excitement.”

“That’s true.”

“I went to the Preyda store you used to run, Mom.”

“Oh?”

“There was a worker there I needed to talk to about the whole problem we’re having with the race.”

“I see. Well, the next time you’re over there, tell me! I’d love for you to go and buy something nice for yourself, for once.”

Dawn giggled again. “We’ll see. Hey, why _did_  you guys ask me over? Was it just to see me?”

“That’s not so wrong, is it?”

“No, no! It’s just that Dad,” she looked to the ram. “Sounded like he had a lot more on the mind than just seeing me again.”

“You’ve always been so quick to catch on,” he praised. “If you must know, I’ve been speaking to one of the runners leading in the mayoral race and he’s agreed to take you on.”

“So I was right. You have them.”

“I assume that it was the fact that I had presumed to ask?”

“That doesn’t matter. Dad, you need to burn the photos.”

“Do you know who you’re working with?”

“Do you know who you’re messing with? Because this ruins things not _only_  for Leo but for _me_ , Dad!” Dawn stood up, raising her voice steadily with every other word. “How could you? Do you understand what the last four months—”

“I don’t care, Dawn,” her father met her halfway. He flicked a small but vivid photograph out of his coat pocket, and slammed it down on the table for all present to see. “You’re working with a— You’re working with a filthy little _speciest_!”

Leodore Lionheart stood, smiling happily (clearly drunk out of his mind) and with his arms around two smaller lions of the same ilk, solo cups in their hands and shirts spotted gold and brown, standing under a banner that very clearly read, in what looked to be fake blood, “Death To All Prey.”

Dawn groaned, bringing her hooves to her face and rubbing her eyelids. “Look, he didn’t know about it. It was a frat party and somehow he wandered into the next house and then next thing he knew, well, these were on his bed.”

“Oh, I’m _sure_ ,” her father mockingly agreed. At some point, her mother had left. “How did you know about this and still think to think that he would actually think of you as an equal? What kind of things has that _bloodthirsty_  monster put into your head?”

“Who’s the speciest now?” Dawn spat.

“You’re avoiding my question. Why?”

“Because I believe him!”

“That cannot be true. I refuse it.”

“Then you refuse the plain truth, Dad.”

His eyes squinted into a glare. “When Lionheart steps up on that stage tomorrow, he’s going to be humiliated as he finds that underneath every pot and tray of food, there will be copies of this photo. And then you’re going to work with—“

“No.”

He blinked, almost taken aback. “What?”

“I…” Dawn started, breathing lightly. She felt her knees shaking. Her stomach felt terrible. But she knew now that she had to do what needed to be done. She had to make her dreams come true. If she didn’t do this now, she would never do it again. “I have been going around the entire city, wandering like a stupid little _idiot_ , wondering just who could have trying to take those photos. It was really strange, you know? Forty million dollars isn’t even that much. Why not go higher? What a weird number. So I thought it was some kind of personal revenge scheme—“

“Dawn—“

“I’m not finished. I thought it was some weird revenge scheme, so I went to the two mammals who hate Leo the most. Turns out I should have just gone home. I have been bumbling around town, throwing around accusations like I’m some kind of nut, and getting what I now realize, rightly berated for it. I looked insane! Pleading for people who had nothing to do with all of this to stop it. God, look — I understand. I get that you think you’re trying to protect me and everything, but you need to burn those photos right now and make sure that not one is left by the time tomorrow rolls around.

“Sweetie—“

“Stop. You may not believe in him, but I do. Leo is a good guy. And he put me on his poster. I was hoping to tell you tonight. We’re running mates and he looks out for me, like I’m going to look out for him for the rest of my life.”

Slowly she had made her way to the door and turned it open, letting in all the fresh air from the outside. A breeze blew through, nearly making her shiver and instead bringing a smile to her face before she turned back to look at her father. “Please, Dad. And thank you. You won’t regret it. You’ll see.”

* * *

 

_“That…”_

_“Whatever.”_

_“No. That was sweet. You never told me that.”_

_“And now you know.”_

_“Thank you, Dawn.”_

_“Sure.”_

* * *

 

The bus ride back to the office had barely felt like five minutes. Dawn’s mind had turned the past hour over and over until it scarcely felt like a real memory. But it was. She shook with vigor as she opened the doors to the main room, where Leo sat, training for the worst with their PR managers like she predicted.

“Dawn?” Leo said.

“The photos are gone,” she replied, beaming.

A storm of cheers and laughs thundered around her as her back was patted, her ears were scratched and eventually, Leo lifted her up, giving the ewe a throne in the form of his shoulder. They paraded around the office for a while, celebrating in the special kind of way that one could only do after a major crisis had been averted.

Dawn was happy. She suspected that she’d feel this way for a while.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

“That was a nice ending.”

“And it’s true,” Dawn asserted. “Those few minutes of glory were really nice until, you know, Andy came in and told us that your arrest for possession of catnip had been made public knowledge and then I had to go out and skulk around ZNN for three hours.”

“Was that why you weren’t at the Grazing the next day?”

“Slept in.”

“Huh.”

She took a sip of her coffee, closely watching as her counterpart did the same. Prison coffee was terrible. It didn’t help that just about every other visiting pair around them was either furious or crying, either. But the caffeine helped her tired body. She knew that it helped his, too. One of their few shared traits.

“I guess it’d be stupid to whine about how you never brought that up again. It was never really a secret that you didn’t revel in anyone’s achievements but your own, was it?” she asked.

“Dawn,”

“I don’t wanna fight you, Leo. I don’t even want to know how you’re not in prison right now.”

“That’s probably because you already do know,” Leodore guessed cheekily. He looked very much like an image of his old self. Cute and confident, with tailored coat sitting on his broad shoulders.

“Something to do with reasonable action and preventing crises is part of your job.”

“Something like that, yes,” he surmised. “I never did thank you for everything you’ve done for me.”

“Sure you have. Remember that mug?”

Lionheart cringed. “Right. Well. That was during a stressful—“

“I don’t want to hear it,” Dawn sighed. “Visiting hours are almost over, anyway. If I wanted to know why you ruined my life for years on end, I probably wouldn’t get the answer in the ten minutes we have left.”

“Dawn—“

“Sorry, Leo.”

“I — me too,” he grunted quietly, remembering his original goal for visiting his former partner in jail. There was no doubt that he was being stupid. There was no doubt that it would work, but _if_  there was a chance that maybe they could be friends again—

Watery, shameful green eyes met chocolate brown. “They want to change my sentence to Life, Leo.”

“What? But…”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

He stood up shakily, never taking his eyes off of the little ewe in front of him. “Well. Goodbye. Good luck.”

“Sure,” she replied bitterly.

“Hey, wait. Did we ever name that table?”

“Yeah. Francis came in a week afterwards and dubbed it The Lion’s Pride.”

“That’s…kind of lame.”

“Isn’t it?”

“Did we ever keep it?”

“The table? No. We trashed it after you had allegedly sex with one of the aides on top of it.”

“Right, well, that sounds like me, doesn't it? I didn't, by the way.”

"It does. And you can't expect me to believe you. Not anymore."

Lionheart managed a smirk. "Goodbye, Dawn."

Dawn cursed the ghost of a smile that plagued her barren face. “See you around, Leo.”


End file.
